"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
-T.E. Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

What If

After a dismal debate between two candidates, who do not have original thoughts, politics has never looked more disconnected. In a world where budgets are too large and spending is too great, both candidates support increases of deficits or spending while painting a picture that we as a country can “eat our cake too”. We cannot have everything.

In a country “for the people, by the people”, we have been given two choices that are similar. We have slowly become numb of the reason why we vote, why we should care about Washington and what the words “economy”, “Capitalism” and “government” really mean.

This is not recent, but a gradual decline of rational thinking by the public. We cannot afford to allow this to go on and wait for others to change the economy, government and the likes. Change does not happen at an executive level: it is local. It is made of similar minded people, choosing to be bold.

What if Americans simply expressed their view that two candidates are not good enough? It doesn’t have to be a violent protest or carry an angry demeanor, but simply casting a vote for an independent party representative. What if Americans wanted to explore and experiment other economic systems (there is more than Imperialistic-Capitalism and Socialism)? What if the public began choosing their own means, not changing currency, but using other items of currency or bartering?

What if the public began to use their minds and gifts instead of buy or rely on the gifts of the few, rich talented ones?